Ok so the flight from Prague to Korea was uneventful. It was the least I could expect after all those crazy detours and whatnot. We departed without a hitch. The nervousness began to hit me about an hour before departing Prague. They kept looking at me like I was insane each time I was asked where are you headed and I said Seoul. As I watched the masses of Korean people prepare to board, I realized how much I stuck out like a sore thumb in both Prague and Korea. I wondered if they were wondering why I was headed to their country. The Prague airport is a little bit different in that instead of one huge security line and then all the gates, there is security in front of every gate, so I hung out as long as possible in the lounge to avoid facing that this was what I was about to do, and then finally, when I couldn’t wait anymore, I took a deep breath, and went through the gate. The security guy did not speak English very well, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t ask any of the Koreans where they were going. When I said Seoul, he instructed me in broken English to put my items on the belt and proceed, so I did. I guess there was no better place to deal with it than the airport, but walking into a massive sea of people (almost 200) and being the only one that looks like you and everyone turns to stare, well that always takes getting used to. There was me, and a couple of Europeans, and then everyone else was Asian, although, not as I learned, all Korean.
It is not that I am new to the situation of being a minority. As a diplomats kid you stick out like a sore thumb no matter which country you live in. And being a tall, skinny, light-skinned chick with hazel eyes has never helped my quest for ambiguity. I’ve had groups described by the color of my eyes. I live in a predominantly white suburb, and went to a predominantly white high school, and then hello Emory, and of course BU. So I learned at a young age to fit it with whatever, and not really care what they looked like. But still, there was something both empowering and shocking about seeing another group that I often consider a minority, as the majority. I guess how some people would feel if they went to an African country, or sometime, even Atlanta ;)
All the steward (esses) were Korean. My goodness, Korean women are breathtaking. I am sure I am over generalizing but it’s almost intimidating. Like I said the flight was pretty much uneventful. I slept a lot, and then we had dinner. Some westerners next to me had requested to not have Korean food and so were fed a really boring dinner. I, not having even thought about that offer, was looked at strangely then asked if I wanted Korean food. You think I’m going to say no. Bring on the Bibimbap, and boy was it good. The steward was so cute, he keep asking me if I knew how to eat it, and coming back to check on me to see if I liked it. The guy sitting next to me was Vietnamese (it made me feel racist that I had just assumed he was Korean) but I didn’t know until we all realized he couldn’t speak Czech, Korean or English, and the steward asked another hostess if she knew any Vietnamese. All I can say is Korean food is amazing. They may finally be able to do what my mom has failed at all along. Fatten me up. Dude that norebang sauce is the truth. Fire! They kept questioning my ability to handle spice until I emphatically proclaimed I loved it. When I woke up, it was breakfast time, and I must say I chickened out and had an omelet with potatoes for breakfast. I don’t know if I’m ready for congee (rice) for breakfast yet, even if it is in savory pudding form. I’m working on it.
So we arrived at Seoul and all I want to do is stretch my legs. The rest was pretty straightforward. I got my luggage, changed some money and took a taxi to the hotel. It’s not customary to tip in Korea, but the dude definitely took it…
When I got to the hotel I don’t think they were expecting me, since I was supposed to have arrived the day before. They’d already given my room away because there is some Vegas show going on, and they had me listed a guy anyways. WTF. Anyways at first they were going to squeeze me into some room with two other trainees/teachers, but then they upped us to pretty sweet suite on the 10th floor, with washer, dryer and everything. I don’t want to leave. I passed out as soon as I was settled, and woke up at about 3 am (11 Atlanta time). Then I was on the computer till 6, took another brief nap and got up to go to breakfast and training.
Our training group is pretty fun. A good percentage is actually Korean-American. That is so cool, like if I went back to Nigeria to work… There’s even a Korean-Canadian and a Korean-New Zealander… I love it. There’s Canadians, an Aussie who just happens to be Chilean-Australian, and if that isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is. And then of course there are the Americans. No Brits or South Africans though, kind of sad about that, because it’d round out the countries allowed to teach here. There's even 2 georgians and a north carolinian. ok southerners. So we got to chit-chatting as we loaded on the van to head to training and like I said, fun group. We are going to have some good times, especially the group that stays in Seoul. Our training was led by this gorgeous Korean-American chick from Seattle. I like that Korea makes it easy for their nationals to come back by giving them what is called an F-4 visa… they have so many more freedoms than us E-2 losers… Oh well
Apparently, they select you for the classes you will teach based not so much on experience but on what college you went to. So based on the fact that I went to Emory I get to teach more advanced test prep. I don’t know how I feel about it, seeing as I am the hugest opponent of standardized testing, but we’ll see. Training is intense. Man the stuff they were asking us I haven’t heard since when? Present perfect progressive? Wow! @!!. So my school is pretty upscale. Like basically if you send your kid there, you are wealthy. So there are all these rules we have to follow, and the like. I felt back at first until I met other peple who were figuring out their lives, tired of the old, or any variety of reasons in between. Some actually want to be teachers eventually, and some like me, had career tracks that should never have led them there… we even have a former American college professor. Needless to say we are where we are for a reason…
Then we headed out for the medical exam. Korean hospitals are fun. They are less concerned about stuff than we are. Like no one wore gloves to take our blood… and when they had use give a urine sample, it was plastic cup in the public bathroom that we just placed on trolley. I mean we could just trade with anyone…
Anyways that ordeal aside we are all now starving so we head to the hotel and then out to get some Korean food…It was amazing. That’s all I can say. Everyone keeps asking me if I like it. No lie, I love it… SO YUMMY!!! We also sampled the Cass (one of two beers, the other being Hite that are ok beers by western standards). The other table had some soju, but I didn’t think it was a good idea with the test coming up tomorrow, and I think instead we’ll hit up the soj tomorrow to celebrate. Oh the soj! Ok so everyone smokes here, but I knew that. Asian countries make it so easy, with vending machines and everything. Big Bad Tobacco!!! So back to the hotel but I hit up the convenience store on the way. There is nothing I love more than convenience stores in Asian countries. Japan got me hooked on that. I mean octopus jerky, candy I’ve never even seen before, plenty of Soju, and they even have it in a juice box. Now that I loved. Teach the kids early… We’re all kind of bummed that we have training on New Year’s Day, so that messes up NYE a little bit, but knowing us, that’s not going to hinder out plans. I have a feeling all the alcoholics/party people move to Korea, but I cannot say we won’t have a gay old time. Ok, I’m going to study so I do not fail training, because that gets you sent back to America and I have no desire to come back anytime soon.
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